Clinton and Biden close down Pepsi Center

What will Bill Clinton's speech be like tonight? One indication is the person introducing him is an African American Congressman from Florida.... I think he'll be great, will want to show everyone he still has it. Rep. Meeks isn't a great speaker, the contrast will be even larger.

Short intro too; the crowd roars as out walks old Bill, who Jim Lehrer says has spoken in every Democratic convention since 1988. Looks like he's in good shape for someone who's 62. Hillary in the audience, aqua pantsuit.

He gets a long ovation from the crowd. This will put him in a good mood, I think he's a little surprised. Laughingly tells everyone to sit down, repeats the first line of his speech, says please sit down, then says I love this, and I thank you.

Right off the bat, says he's here to support Barack Obama, more applause; and to warm up the crowd for Joe Biden. He recasts the primary race as being tight until the very end, praises Hillary and her speech.

Big roar, as he says he'll do everything he can to elect Barack Obama. Actually, that makes 18 million of us. Like Hillary, I want all of you to vote for Barack Obama in November.

Man, he's still magical, even after all the stuff of the past two decades. He's competent, smart, confident and passionate. And a great speaker. I hope he and Obama really spend some time together, Obama could learn a lot. Hmm, Theresa Heinz Kerry is sitting with Michelle.

Wow, he says everything he learned as president and since then has convinced him Barack Obama is the man for this job. He has the intelligence and curiousity every successful president needs. Has a unique capacity to lead our increasingly diverse nation. The long, hard primary tested and strengthened him....

Hmm, Bill is very clever. Which has always been his problem. Then says Biden plus Obama equals what we need on national security. Obama is ready to lead America, and restore American leadership. Some blacks in the audience are looking a bit skeptical, until Bill says Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States.

"When he cannot convert adversaries into partners, he will stand up to them." "He won't let the world's problems obscure its opportunities."

It's kindof odd for Bill to be speaking on national security night; but he sounds credible delivering these lines. Most important of all, we can't be strong abroad unless we are first strong at home. People have always been more impressed by the power of our example, than by the example of our power. Gets people to their feet. Not sure Saddam Hussein was ever impressed by anything.

This sure ain't no 10 minute speech; and now he's going off on economics. He's looser now, this is clearly what he loves talking about. Now hitting Republicans. Just listing a litany of abuses, ending with what about Katrina and cronyism. Gets the crowd all riled up. Standing ovation as he says Obama will do better than that. Crowd chants Yes We Can.

Yes he can, but first, we have to elect him. Obama couldn't ask for more. He says McCain is honorable, but he's wrong on the two great questions of this election, rebuilding the American dream and rebuilding our power overseas.

Now he's hitting the Bush administration on how they've destroyed the economy, reeling off a list of facts. Now McCain wants more of the same.

Man, what's Biden going to say after this?! Clinton's totally stolen the show; he's got the crowd in the palm of his hand. Let's send them a simple message--thanks, but no thanks. The third time is not the charm.

What great lines. Yeah, everyone's wishing he was running again. Total silence as he slows down, talks about 16 years ago it was his chance--GOP said I was too young, and too inexperienced to be commander-in-chief. Crowd cheers at that--sound familiar? It didn't work in 1992, because we were on the right side of history--and it will not work in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history.

Obama's life is proof of the American dream. Freedom, and equal opportunity will be what he also wants for all Americans. This is totally the most effective case for Obama's candidacy we've heard.

Obama will lead us away from division and fear, back to unity and hope. If, like me, you believe America must always be a place called hope, join me and Hillary and Chelsea in making Barack Obama the next president of the United States. Huge applause, off he goes.

Jim Lehrer says--to say he was well-received is an understatement. Yeah, off he goes, what a great speech. Too bad it wasn't live in prime time. Crowd is totally riled up now.

Now, John Kerry. How the mighty have fallen, not even in prime time. He's stumbling a bit, a hell of a speech to have to follow.

Some interesting numbers out of the tv ratings for the convention so far:

According to new figures released by Nielsen, Day Two of the convention -- anchored by Hillary Clinton's primetime speech rallying support for Obama -- delivered a huge audience: 26 million U.S. viewers. ...

Viewers older than 55 are glued to the convention coverage. More than 20 percent of Americans in that age group watched the event on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, BET, and TV One. ...

The Democratic convention is holding its own against the heavily watched Summer Olympics in Beijing, where 27 million viewers tuned in each night.

That's pretty amazing, that as many people are watching this as watched the Olympics. Don't think the Republicans are gonna get this type of viewership. The bounce for Obama may well be in double digits--it's especially great that older voters are watching, they'll have heard Hillary and Bill and Joe vouch for Obama.

Kerry is speaking as if there's a stopwatch on him. He says he's been friends with McCain for almost 20 years, but candidate McCain is no Senator McCain. Compares the two, but is speaking a bit too fast for us to soak in. Talk about being for it before you're against it! Odd, some audio problems, at least on PBS.

This has actually turned into a pretty good speech. Kerry's a good soldier. Tries to get a refrain going, recites a list of foreign policy things that Obama was right on, then 'Who can we trust to keep America safe?'

"How desperate to tell the son of a single mother who chose community service over money that he doesn't put America first?"

Oh wow, Obama's uncle, who served in WWII and helped liberate a concentration camp is here, sitting next to Michelle, he stands and the crowd gives him a standing ovation. Now that's great television. Nice touch, Kerry.

He's actually doing a very good job of acknowledging that what worked against him won't this time--I wish he'd been this strong attacking Bush in 2004 that he is attacking McCain now. It must be humbling to say some of these things, but he really does love the Democratic party and America.

A very different speech than Clinton's, but much more personal, vulnerable, and in some ways--hard to measure--better. PBS commentators say not a Kerry-like speech, the most hard-hitting speech of the convention.

And now the first and only female three-star general, Claudia Kenney; wow, and she was head of Army Intelligence. Man, this is a well-run, well-thought-out convention.

Rep. Chet Edwards now speaking; Sen. Evan Bayh spoke earlier. Both showed why they weren't picked to run with Obama. Neither were inspiring, seemed like lightweights. In comparison with the Clintons, and Kerry. They're showing a film by Stephen Spielberg on PBS, the networks are replaying and analyzing Clinton's speech.

ABC replays the roll call vote, when New York--with Hillary at the mike--put Obama over the top. A black woman is wiping away tears, as Hillary says she moves that by acclamation all votes cast go to Obama. Hmmm, with Nancy Pelosi presiding. Everyone seconds; no-one opposes--or is given a chance to by Pelosi's gavel, and the motion is adopted. George Stephanopolous mentions all the barriers being broken--Hillary to Nancy to Barack.

This really is like a dream for the Democrats. Great visuals, great speeches, and enough interesting things going on that people are tuning in. Maybe the whole Clinton-Obama thing was ginned up by Obama? Figuring may as well turn lemons into lemonade.

Everyone's run or is running a lot of Clinton. Hopefully Kerry gets some time too. NBC is speculating about who McCain will pick for VP, Chuck Todd talks about the Biden choice being a factor.

Wow, I think CBS is rerunning all of Bill's speech. NBC is running parts of their interview today with Michelle. She says she told them as they came out on stage that she had a surprise for them, Malia asked, is it the Jonas brothers.... Michelle says they really miss their daddy, Malia was crying backstage, then said well, that family [he was with] seemd pretty night.

Man. Now NBC will talk to Kerry after the break. I think ABC is coming back with Kerry. Hey, PBS has someone on a blonde woman who looks like Ainsley Hayes from the West Wing. The guest here was in the Marine Corps though; same kind of toughness, genuine in her case.

Hmm, Marc Ambinder says Obama is going to make a 'surprise' appearance at the end of Biden's speech. I think Clinton did this first, with Gore the first time around. Especially good idea here given that tomorrow night's speech will be at the football stadium, the visuals will be different, no risk of taking away from Thursday.

Man, CBS has an emotional interview with a black delegate from New Jersey, who's in tears, says her dad who has Alzheimer's now marched on Washington with MLK, when they couldn't drink at water fountains, she's just glad Democrats voted for the best candidate, regardless of skin color, wished he could know about it. Oh, man....

Kerry on NBC, Brian Williams says at the end of the interview perhaps the most forceful speech here so far. Ann Curry is now playing reporter, trying to grill an Obama foreign policy advisor, by asking very abrupt, bordering on rude, questions. Yes or no? Yes or no?

Everyone's showing the Biden bio video, except CBS, which consistently has skipped these. They've got Bill Richardson, who's looking large--smartly, Obama's got him speaking at the stadium tomorrow night.

Wow, what a classic-looking family. This should play well with the senior citizens. If Biden has Obama's organizational skills, he could've made a real run at these things. Vice presidency is perfect for him, no real duties except to advise the president. He looks a bit like Donald Trump.

Beau Biden, his son, who's going to be serving in Iraq in a few months. Wow, he was in that automobile audience with his mom, and his sister and his brother! The hall is transfixed, Michelle is just weeping as he tells the story, and how at first his dad didn't want to go to the Senate, wanted to stay with his kids.

My gosh, this is almost too good to be true. Such an understated style, but totally sincere. Michelle is totally weeping, they split screen it for a while. His mom's crying too. Highlights his writing the violence against women act, crime bill, called Milosovic a war criminal to his face. Mentions because of other duties, he can't be here this fall. So I have something to ask of you--be there for my dad, be there for Barack Obama, because this country needs him.

My friend, my father, my hero, the next vice president of the United States. Charlie Gibson interjects, the other duties are he'll be sent to Iraq, part of the Delaware National Guard.

Thank you, and thank you John Kerry. Biden is clearly thrilled, keeps saying thank you, crowd keeps cheering. Talks about his son, how proud he is of him, and his other son and daughter, and his wife. Oh man, this is gonna be good. He thanks President Clinton, words that'll warm his heart. Praises Hillary too, made history and will continue to make history. They stand for her.

Honored to represent the first state, my state, the state of Delaware. Yes, I accept your nomination.... I think one reason Biden was picked is because Michelle likes him.

Starts telling his story, his dad always told him, champ, when you get knocked down, get back up. God, I wish my dad was here, thankful my mom is here--says her entire Irish name, the crowd gives her a standing ovation, she clearly is very proud.

This is a very genuine speech. Talks about his mom's words to him as a kid--my mother's creed is the American creed, no one is better than you, and everyone is equal to you.

That American dream feels like it's slowly slipping away. He talks about the questions people have around the kitchen table every night, the worries they have--that's the America George Bush has left us, and what we'll get if John McCain is elected president.

John McCain doesn't seem to get it. Barack Obama gets it; he's worked his way up. He chose to go to Chicago, the South Side, to work as a community organizer. That's why Obama knows work is more than a paycheck; it's dignity, it's respect. Hmm, Biden seems to be slurring his words a little. Not sure I remember that from before.

Talks about his achievements in the Senate. You can learn a lot about someone campaigning, debating; he's tapped into the oldest thing in America, we have the power to change.

John McCain is my friend--I mean it. Personal courage and heroism demonstrated by John still amazes me. But I profoundly disagree with the direction John wants to take this country. Ticks off his Bush ties, his bad policies. He's skipping some words on the teleprompter, but I think that's good, he wants to be a bit rough.

That's not change--that's more of the same. He's getting worked up, into a rhythmn now. He voted 19 times against the mininum wage. He'll continue to spent $10 billion a month in Iraq. These time require more than a good soldier--they require a wise leader.

And that's the key line right there.

Ticks off what Barack Obama will do. That's the change we need. It's a slightly uneven speech now, keep feeling like he'll flub a line. Hammers home the equal pay for women.

Now, foreign policy, his area of expertise. We will hold Russia accountable for its actions, and we will help the people of Georgia rebuild. Bush administration's policy has been an absmyl failure.

McCain says Obama is not ready to protect our national security. Now whose judgment should we trust... John McCain was wrong on Afghanistan, and Barack Obama was right. On Iran. On Iraq.

Wow, a full-throated attack. The world will trust us again, we'll be able to lead again. Jill and I are honored to join Barack and Michelle on this journey. Here for the future of our kids, grandkids, everyone I grew up with.

A slightly odd speech, not quite in rhymthmn--unlike Clintons and Kerry. But--this speech is also targeted at a very specific audience, older white blue collar voters. I think it hit home with.

Big finish, standing ovation. They're waiting for Obama to come out. Stephanopolous says you saw why Obama picked Biden tonight. He's just pacing back and forth on stage, out comes his wife to hug him--she has a handheld mike. Hmmm....

Jill has the mike. A special surprise guest. Joe asks who? And now--out comes Barack. And the place goes nutso. Huge applause; Jill is in between them. The mike seems to still be live, as Jill goes off stage, in search of someone or something.

He's got the mike. Hello Democrats. This is why I'm so proud to have Joe Biden, and Jill Biden, and Beaux Biden, and Mamma Biden, with me. Michelle kicked it off pretty well. If I'm not mistaken Hillary Clinton rocked the house last night--huge applause. Praises Bill, and thank you President Clinton. See you tomorrow night!

Off he walks, hugs and shakes hands on the way out. Biden family out on speech, as Obama's on his way out. Split coverage here, not sure what's the focus. Ah, now he's mingling with the huge Biden family, this is great television.

ABC and NBC to local coverage, CBS still here as We Are Family plays. Delegates have connected tonight, PBS says, they feel energized, there's enthusiasm they had only seen moments of previously.

Michael Beschloss, who I like a lot, says this was a huge help for the Democrats, Clinton gave a great speech--including that Obama's ready to be president. Biden did a great job; Richard Norton Smith says it was classic populism, Hubert Humphreyish. And it was a values speech, a character speech.

Hmm, all the photos leading the sites are of Biden/Obama together. I think Biden was authentic tonight, which is quite a bit rougher than Obama, which I think is good. Jeff Greenfield on CBS' webcast is saying he thought Biden connected with those lost Reagan Democrats.

Schieffer says this is what the campaign is going to be--lack of experience vs. lack of judgment. I think if that's a wash, Obama wins in a landslide.

Katie says, Hey you guys, I have a Web question.... End of an era for the Clintons? Nobody knows, as Greenfield says, depends on whether Obama wins or not. Clintons want to make sure nobody blames them if Obama doesn't win.

Katie is like, Hey Byron, are you out there? She's actually really good in this forum. Fits her speaking style, her morning show casualness and personality. One of the delegates says Obama-Biden is the dream team. Other delegate says Biden's rougher around the edges, more working class. Hmmm, what is McCain gonna do about that?!

Byron Pitts asks a black delegate if Obama can connect with whites, the delegate says yeah, this is the Democratic party, this place is full of working class whites.

References the 'slips' where McCain got referred to as George Bush. Byron's very smooth, thanks everyone by name afterwards. Katie says yo, it's a webcast, not a miniseries; he says okay sis. This is kind of funny, actually.

I really like Katie in this role, CBS should put her in this kind of frenetic, seat of the pants vibe more often.

Now she's reading breaking news from the NYTimes--McCain has made his decision on his VP, Governor Pawlenty and Romney the favorites, with possibly Sen. Liebermann in there.

Katie's playing traffic cop, goes to Dean Reynolds, who I've always liked. He's saying Obama's speech will be stark and sober. The smiles will be replaced by a much more serious demeanor.

Afterwards, Katie says Dean, it's nice to see you smile on TV, you should do this more often; Dean says thanks, I'd like to. This is really fun.

Now Joe Biden's sister, Valerie Biden Owens. They shoot them from the back, you can see all the monitors. Katie talks about how cute to see your 91-year-old mom there, hearing Joe talk about her words, and seeing her say to the person next to her, "I said that, yes I did". Valrie's very good, too bad more people aren't watching this....

There's a palpable sense of excitement and anticipation about tomorrow night; I think an amazing number of people will be watching, if nothing else to see what those crazy columns look like.

Katie's telling us she'll take another Web question, then we'll go see the blogger's tent. She's very cute, trying to talk our language. Joe Trippi says in answer yes, he does have a chance in the South, he's spreading the field out on McCain. Audio problems, so Katie says hey Byron, are you out there?

He is, she's teasing him about a CBS staffer I think. Byron's good at this too, talking to people as he's walking about. He's showing the signs they held up, Katie is telling him to save them, as souvenirs. Pitts is just randomly talking to people, calling them brother, it's great--the heart of being a reporter is chatting up people.

Trippi and Dan Bartlett are joking back and forth. It's clear that all these people like Katie, and she has a good relationship with them; there's a looseness and familiarity that you very rarely see.

Trippi says the Clintons have laid the divide to rest, Obama didn't err by giving them so much time. Ha! Of course... Hmm, Trippi makes a really good point, he thinks Obama's going to spread the field, especially as McCain starts spending down his public financing--and I think the Clintons will be part of that.

Man, Katie looks so normal walking around the bloggers tent talking to people. Again, back to her journalistic roots, just chatting up interesting people. She's getting a massage at the YouTube tent. Wow, ex-gymnast Katie is impressing everyone with her yoga positions; it's hilarious and great.

Have got Nightline on mute, this is better. Well, until they run the Ted Koppel 'lost interview' with Obama. Lost? Or shelved?

Declan gives a long answer to a question about Obama and McCain's positions on net neutrality and copyright, at the end Katie laughs, says thanks. They talk next about the techiness of the Obama campaign.

Ah, now Marc Ambinder, whose blog everyone political reads religiously. Katie is showing hilarious buttons, Ask me how many houses I own.... Hmm, he's fatter than I thought he'd be, more schlubby. But funny, and very clever. He peeks into a donor's lounge, moves the curtain to peek in. Ah, talks to James Yee, the former Muslim chaplain at Guatanamo Bay. Talks to Bill Plante.

Katie teases him about going into TV, he says call that Ambinder Unhinged. Some actual stories here to cover. Katie calls a young reporter who's editor of the Harvard Crimson "Mr. Smarty Pants." It's hilarious.

Stephanapolous on Nightline is giving the Democrats an A for tugging at heartstrings, and A for attacking the Republicans, A for Body Language. Perfect political choreography says George, Obama's only problem--a "high class problem" as Bill Clinton used to say--is can he top this tomorrow night.

Ha! He doesn't have to; Team Obama has always been about doing the small things around the margins so it's not all swing or miss for the candidate. They could end the convention tonight and Obama would get a nice bounce; he just has to let people see him being serious and substantive, and then hit the campaign trail with Biden while the GOP goes crazy in the Twin Cities.

On the webcast, Katie says she needs a hand-held mike, as they wire up an angel and a devil, asks what's their deal. Ah, part of Trick or Vote--on Halloween, they're going to go out and sign people up to vote.

Back on ABC, Koppel grilling Obama. He's using the bus into the ditch analogy. Now, Ted says he was hugely impressed by him that day, he gave brilliant answers to what he thought were tough questions. So they dumped the interview that day to talk to Michael Moore... which Ted says further confirms his excellent news judgment.

Now that is an endorsement--from Ted Koppel, who's no pushover! It's amazing how young he looks; he's really gained some gray since then, seems to have filled out.

The only guy he's ever interviewed that he thought anticipated questions better and answered questions better--Bill Clinton.

"What an astonishing journey, unlike any in the history of American politics," says Terry Moran. Whatever your politics, that statement is worth basking in for a little while. And now ABC is pushing us to their website to watch the full interview.

Moran asked Donna Brazile to step back, the Democratic Party nominated a black man to be president of the United States. She said she never believed it would happen growing up in the segregated South, wanted to weep tonight. Matthew Dowd says it was like, as an Irish Catholic, John F. Kenney in 1960.

Yup, it's been that kind of night. Tomorrow will only be better.

Hillary Clinton lights up John McCain

Mark Warner's keynote was workmanlike, unmemorable, and fine. Everyone's waiting for Hillary Clinton, so his job was to merely not flub it. Interesting, if Obama had chosen him as vice president the exact same speech would've been charged with electricity.

I think Hillary will really send a jolt of energy through the hall. Hmm, Bill Clinton's in the hall, hugging a black family. Very weird, he's hugging and sitting next to some white lady who looks really unhappy. Like during the primaries, the Clinton bubble has kept them from being aware of reality--they really don't seem to realize that their time as the face of the Democratic Party is not only over, it's also buried.

It'll be obvious after Bill's speech in non-prime time Wednesday night, after which that's pretty much it for the two of them; their influence in an Obama administration will be exactly zero.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana is going nuts up there, wearing his bolo tie--he's the kind of plain-speaking Democrat, brash the convention needs more of. This is a war; let's not play nice.

Now, the Clinton intro video. It's energetic, if a bit hyper. There's a whole section on her laugh--where was this during the primaries?!--the music is all about women. So far, no indication her husand is Bill. Scenes of her and Obama at the end; it's a pretty good production.

Lights come up, applause not crazy, actually. And there's Chelsea. All she says is Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm very proud to introduce my hero, and my mother, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Wow, holy orange! In this bright pantsuit; to a sea of Hillary signs, with the name underlined in matching orange. She's stalking about the stage; Michelle Obama in a classic cream outfit next to Joe Biden. Nice ovation for her; that's right, get it all out.

I'll bet a lot of people are tuned in hoping for a catfight. That's great, the more that can hear her message of unity. Crowd is keeping it up, which is interesting, considering the vast majority of these are Obama people.

Proud mother, proud Democrat, proud Senator from New York, proud American, and a proud supporter of Barack Obama. That brings the crowd to its feet, including Michelle and Bill.

The time is now to unite as a single party; that gets everyone up too. This is good, no cute games--just getting right to the point. She's really on tonight; looks good, speaking emphatically. No way, no how, no McCain.

She's picking up the pace a little. This is the Hillary that at Unity, N.H. made me think would make a great partner for Obama. I really think if she wasn't married to Bill, he'd probably have picked her. But the reality is Obama doesn't need the Clinton sideshow weighing him down.

She's totally got the crowd's attention, they're rapt. She thanks all of her supporters. Odd, pays tribute to the two dead Democratic officials. Weird place to insert this. She needs to do a section on why she's voting for Barack Obama; ah, that's who Bill is sitting next to, that's why the woman next to him looked so grim.

Money borrowed from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis. Reels off a long list of why she ran for president; and those are the reasons I support Barack Obama for president. Coming right up on the 11:00 hour, Clintons are late for everything. Her most powerful line, we need leaders once again who can tap into that American optimism.

She starts on Obama's biography, talks about why he ran. Mentions her husband, how we know how to do this, we did it before with President Clinton, we'll do it again with President Obama.

Says she can't wait to watch Obama sign into law a health care plan that covers every American. And we know he'll end the war in Iraq responsibly. Praises Michelle Obama; she'll be a great first lady for America. And we're lucky that Joe Biden will be at Obama's side, a strong leader, a good man. Pragmatic, tough and wise.

Hmm, interesting pivot--McCain is my colleague and my friend, but we don't need four more years of the last eight years. Crowd starts yelling "No" after she goes on a long list of what we don't need four more years of.

She starts mocking him, it's a good moment; big boo when she says he doesn't earn equal pay for equal work. Makes sense he'll be with Bush next week in the Twin Cities, hard to tell them apart. That's a good line.

Talks about the women's rights movement, 88 years ago today women got the right to vote. Says her mom was born before women could vote, my daughter got to vote for her mother for president. Talks about Harriet Tubman. If you hear the dogs, keep going... recites a litany of when to keep going, don't ever stop. That brings the people to their feet, even in our darkest moments we've found the faith to keep going.

She should talk about 9/11 here.... We don't have a moment to lose or a vote to spare. This is a really good speech. It's adult, strong, and on-message. I wish she'd also said something about McCain being anti-choice. Odd end, God bless you and Godspeed.

Hmm, she seems to be off the stage really quickly. Now the signs that said Hillary have been replaced by signs that say Unity, Brian Williams says on NBC. Jeff Greenfield on CBS says the speech was aimed at getting all the Democrats to vote for Obama, which should be enough. Bob Schieffer found it an effective attack, in response to Katie Couric wondering if she wasn't strong enough; says Obama couldn't have asked for more. ABC's Kate Snow is with the Illionois delegation, kindof an odd choice since those are all Obama people even if it's Hillary's home state.

It was a good speech; it could have been better. But if it were, maybe Hillary would've been the nominee. Ultimately, Clinton can only do so much; Obama's gotta bring the voters home on Thursday, which I think he will.

Teddy Kennedy, Michelle Obama help Democrats open in Denver

Opening night of the Democratic National Convention; they show a great video with ex-President Jimmy Carter. He's still sharp, and his words in the video--mainly about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina--are the most compelling of the night. Oddly, they have him come up on stage with his wife Roslyn Carter, wave, and then that's it.... No words or anything.

Odd cut to a video about Barack Obama, with Lawrence Tribe calling him the most memorable student he's ever had at Harvard Law School. Next is Maya Soetorno-Ng, Obama's half-sister. She's poised, articulate, self-assured. The hall is quiet for the first time all night; Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn't get anything like this reception.

They learned from their mom that "we should sometimes have faith in what we could not see". This is a really good speech; it's sincere, and normal. I'd have put her on in prime time Thursday, right before him. This is the side of him people need to see.

Hmm, she's a history teacher. You can tell she's steely. I really like her, look forward to hearing more from her.

Now, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. He's very impressive, says Dr. King is looking down, knowing this is the first convention to take place in sight of a mountaintop. Wow, what a great line. This is a classic Democratic moment; again, I wish this were in prime time on Thursday. It's a great speech for the party's heart and soul; Jackson is going to be big, all of his father's rhetorical gift, plus the buttoned-down attitude that'll appeal to white elites. Kindof an abrupt ending, but overall good. Hmm, Joe Biden's in the house, looking very much at home.

Now Carter's sitting down with Jim Lehrer. This should be a great interview. His 9th convention in a row, beginning in 1976. That's crazy, the year he was nominated was his first convention?! He talks about how it's no biggie that some Hillary people aren't for Obama, just like the Ronald Reagan/Gerald Ford split in 1976 didn't impact the GOP that year. Interesting, his cadence and speaking style seems to have been picked up by Bill Clinton.

David Brooks asks him about race, Carter says it's an issue, but minimal. He predicts Obama will pick up some southern states. Mark Shields asks him more about his personal experience growing up in a segregated South; this is a fascinating interview, talks about Harry Truman ending racial segregation in the military, changing his life when he was a submarine officer. Says he wept watching Obama's Philadelphia speech, the most enlightening and transforming speech on race he's ever seen.

Hey, there's a Sikh delegate in the crowd, and Spike Lee. What a great multicultural stew here, dancing to the music; the GOP affair, of course, will be cold and white and menacing. Not sure I like the DNC's stage, it's a bit--busy.

Some talking heads on PBS, and then Caroline Kennedy. She says she's never had someone inspire her like her father did, until now. She's cool, calm and collected; segues into an introduction for her uncle, Ted Kennedy. This is going to be an amazing moment when he comes out on stage.

Video tribute to him first. Man, so much history in this one man--essentially all of post-WWII politics in this country. Starts off in his sailboat, then black and white footage and photos, some color. He may be the most effective Senator of all time; his life story is Shakespearean in impact and scope.

Wow, he's read to kids every Tuesday at a public school in DC?! They have a college-bound student talk about the impact he made on her life. Rep. John Lewis is powerful in the piece, but none so much as the emotional father of an Iraq soldier who lost his life due to no body armor, and who teamed up with Kennedy to pass legislation six months after that.

They pivot, show Kennedy and Obama together. Wow, he was so vigorous during the primaries. Has been sick since then. Wow, out he comes--to a sea of Kennedy signs, and big-time ovation. The hall is packed now, this is prime time. Wow, he's surprisingly strong! Maria Shriver's on the floor too, wiping away tears. This must do him good to get this reception.

He's a great speaker, his words carry such weight because of who he is and what he's done. Biden's beaming on the floor, chant of Teddy, Teddy. Wow, 1980 all over again! He's crip, strong, direct, pounds on health care as a right. Yes we can, and finally, yes we will. Talks about reaching the moon; I think under Obama we'll hopefully have new metaphors to cite. "The work begins anew, the hope rises again--and the dream lives on."

The entire Kennedy clan is out on stage now, and it's a big one. Hmm, Maria's still in the audience. What a great American story; he doesn't seem to want to leave, crowd is clapping along to Still the One. What a great legacy, what a great Democratic party.

After Shields talk about how his greatness as a senator started with his defeat in 1980. Makes an interesting point, he was then like the great Southern senators who had no higher aspirations because they were from the segrated South and so devoted themselves to the Senate.

Richard Norton Smith says tonight Kennedy reminded a lot of Democrats why they are Democrats.

It's interesting, the homepages of the BBC, Le Monde, El Pais, Der Spiegel, Corriere della Sera all have the DNC as the top news story. Imagine if all the U.S. newspaper were leading with some European political convention....

It's 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast, now watching the networks. They're all recapping the Kennedy speech; really, DNC should've had it lead off the coverage. Instead, Jim Leach drones on about something in the background. Old school Bob Schieffer, who Katie Couric tells us has covered all 20 conventions over the past 40 years, reports from the dais.

My gosh, breaking news on CBS, cops arrested men with high-powered rifles with scopes, plot to assassinated Barack Obama when he speaks at Invesco Thursday night. Washington Post has some details, blogged by a reporter who was in the hotel room next to the one cops raided.

Back on ABC, Caroline Kennedy, Charlie Gibson says as many conventions as they've all been to, the Ted Kennedy speech was one of the most emotional moments they can remember.

Over on NBC Tom Brokaw, who sometimes you fear is going to have a senior moment, is talking about Obama's big reach for the presidency, and race, and generations. Claire McCaskill is on the podium, totally getting ignored, one reason why she wasn't picked for VP. Back on ABC, Kate Snow's right in the midst of the delegates, talking about the reaction to Kennedy.

Smart for Obama to kick things off with his wife, it'll bring some of the Clinton supporters back into the fold. Coming up is the Michelle Obama film; over on NBC, Caroline Kennedy's here too. Williams asks her if she has any words that can heal the Obama-Clinton rift, she says everyone here cares about the same thing, we'll get it worked out.

Oh wow, the networks are all missing the Michelle Obama bio film live; but ABC and CBS are showing it on tape; CBS cuts out halfway through, ABC showing the whole thing, like they said they'll do at the Republican convention. She said, hilariously, the first time she heard about him at their law firm, she was like who names their kid Barack Obama, he must be weird. He was late, but she found him interesting, was his advisor at the firm.

'His big move' was on the drive back from a company picnic, he offered to buy her ice cream. NBC is ignoring all this still, CBS at least is talking about her life. Good call, ABC. Some clean-scrubbed white people in this video, it's really well-made, if a bit disjointed.

NBC now cuts live to Craig Robinson, Michelle's sister. CBS still talking about her, not showing anything--a bunch of white people analyzing her. ABC still on the video. Brother says even though they were only allowed an hour of TV a night, still memorized every Brady Bunch episode. ABC finishes the video, goes to commercial.

Michelle Obama's mom is cute, wearing a huge white hat with the 'Obama' on it. Brother talks about how they talked every night before going to sleep, shared a room divided in two. ABC has now joined the speech, CBS still featuring its all-white lineup.

Hey, he's coach of the Oregon State men's basketball team, says Go Beavers! She did take something away from that first law firm job--a young lawyer by the name of Barack Obama. Says she asked him to go take him to play basketball; confident not cocky, takes the shot if open, team player who improves others, and he won't back down from any challenge.

This is a great speech, doing what it needs to do. CBS picks up the last part of this; and now... Michelle. Out she comes, in fabulous green dress with a big brooch, shakes her head playfully at her brother, big smile. People are crying in the audience.

She's a great speaker, coming from the heart--so simple and easy. Her top's slightly crooked. A bit nervous to start, bit of fits and starts. Now getting into it, loves her husband and believes he will be an extraordinary president. Talks about her girls, then her mom, then her dad. She slips in a bit of a down home accent at time talking about her parents, gets emotional talking about how much her parents loved them, nice pivot to them making it to college, as proof of the American dream.

Man, this is an absolute home run; I don't remember a better spouse speech, ever. A slight dig at McCain, she and Barack were raised to treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't agree with them.

Talks about Barack's community organizing with the steelworkers, this is a highly effective section. America should be a place where you can make it if you try. The crowd is totally transfixed, dead silence. Man, she is a great speaker. Very compelling. 88th anniversary of women winning the right to vote; and the 45th anniversary of MLK's speech.

What great faces in the audience; this is the best of America. Praises ordinary Americans, then singles out people like Hillary Clinton, who put those 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling; people like Joe Biden, who's never forgotten where he came from.

"The world as it is just won't do, we obligation to fight for the world as it should be--and that's the thread that connects our hearts."

And that is why I love this country.... Big, huge, applause. She talks about what she's done, in her own small way, to try and give back. Everything she talks about regarding Obama is economic-related, or veterans-related. This is an absolute grand slam. To end the war in Iraq responsibly, to build an economy that lifts every family. To educate every child.

Big smile; building to a close here. People are standing and listening. Just an extraordinary speech, totally exceeded even the highest expectations. Hope, and a list of people whose stories he's heard, and what drove people in Iowa to come out on a cold winter night.

And in the end... he's the same man I fell in love with 19 years ago. Same man who drove me and our new baby daughter home from the hospital, inching home at a snail's pace, peering at us anxiously in the rearview mirror.

Man, she's tearing up, fighting back tears; this is really emotional. There's no Clinton rift anymore, and I don't think there are going to be very many undecided independents either after this convention. People are getting on their feet; tonight, in honor of my father's memory and my daughters' future; let us stand together to elect Barack Obama president of the United States of America.

Isn't She Lovely playing as the crowd stands and roars. NBC starts talking, ABC lets us listen, out comes the cute girls, in purple and a matching dress, they are sooooooooo cute. She gets a handheld mike, and daddy's on the big screen! They blow kisses at him, he's smiling big time, waving to the crowd, which is just roaring.

"Hello everybody, how about Michelle Obama! Now you know why I asked her out so many times, even though she said no. You want a persistent president!"

Michelle, you were unbelievable, the kids are talking back to him, just shouting stuff into the mike, he's with a family in Kansas City. They have a wireless mike, are grabbing it from each other to talk to him. I mean, this is irresistable television. You can't underestimate the appeal of a fun, young family.

Timing is perfect, a few minutes before 11, no time for over-analysis. ABC/NBC just talking, CBS talking to people in the crowd, which is smart.

A great first night for the Democrats. Tomorrow should be interesting; will be hard to top this, it's exactly what Obama wanted.

Beijing Olympics come to a close, passes down to London

It's closing night in Beijing, shown on tape delay 12 hours later in NYC. A bit odd watching Nightly News with Lester Holt live in Beijing's sunshine, and going directly to Bob Costas a few minutes later in darkness.

I'm sad to see the Games end; it was the best Summer Olympics I can remember, from amazing athletic drama to great stories from Beijing. I always prefer the Winter games for their intimate scale, but it's hard to beat these games for sheer Wow! moments.

They're showing the men's volleyball gold medal match, U.S. vs. Brazil. They pick it up in the second set, Brazil won the first set and are just down 20-18 in the second. The U.S. team has already exceeded all expectations, but it'd be nice for their coach, the one whose father-in-law was murdered on the first day of the games, to come out of here with a golden memory.

Wow, U.S. almost gets aced, a great save and then a scoring spike. 22-20. That's the key play here in the second set so far. And now an aces from the hard-serving Clay Stanley, 23-20. He scores on a spike, 24-20. Nice timing, NBC. Mmm, and a service error; that's allright, he's aggressive. 24-21. Net violation against U.S., 24-22.

Now they're reshowing the drums sequence from the opening ceremony, it's even more awesome than I remembered. That will never be topped.

Back to volleyball, in the third set, U.S. up 12-10. Hmm, this thing must've gone five sets, otherwise there wouldn't be all this editing. 16-12, U.S. seems to be in good flow. Now U.S. pulling away a bit, up 20-15. Ace from Brazil, 20-16.

Now U.S. goes on a little run, wins set three to go up 2 sets to 1.

U.S. trailing a bit in the fourth set.... After commercials NBC has been running little vignettes about China; this would've been nice on opening night, no?

Now 17-15, U.S. down.... Later, U.S. fighting back to 20-20. They win this match, it's timed so we go to closing ceremonies in a few minutes. Priddy's just serving great. Wow, an amzing point, back and forth; U.S. blocks to end it. This match is over; Brazil is claiming some sort of violation to no avail, up 21-20.

Now 22-20, right as we hit the 8:00 golden hour. Ooh, Priddy hits it into the net. 22-21. A gift point as the ball randomly glances off the Americans onto the Brazilian side of the court, 23-21.

And now, gold medal point, 24-22. Brazil's star Giba was taken out, now back in. Stanley up to serve for the U.S. 24-23. Hmmm. And USA wins! On Stanley's spike! What an amazing, totally emotional run for the U.S. team. Their coach is fighting back tears, many of the players are crying. Hugh McCutcheon is walking off into the tunnel by himself to try and compose himself.... One of the announcer's voice cracks.

In the interview McCutcheon fights back the tears, he's very proud of the team, is open and honest about it being an Olympics of great and horrible emotion for him. Stands straight and tall during the medal ceremony.

That wraps up competition for NBC; time for the closing ceremony to start. Odd, Dan Hicks--why not Mary Carillo? She's got such great chemistry with Bob. Odd, she also left Wimbledon before the final Sunday. This is a bad pairing, Hicks is pretty stiff, trying too hard to be like Bob. Joshua Cooper Ramo is back with us, says it's all about circles, and joy.

Firewords in the air count down to zero, and more fireworks like crazy. Lots of people waving orange fans in the stands. British PM Gordon Brown's in the stands, like Bush sitting in the fans' seats.

Maybe more than a million volunteers here at the games Bob says?! That's startling; nice that this is the first we're hearing that. More drums, this time in a circle, all in red; women in orange dresses come marching in in columns, now running to encircle the drums. It is just visually stunning. Huge drums float in, two drummers on it. Everything is so aesthetically and geometrically pleasing. The women are wearing tons of bells, hearing them rattling now. Hicks is bad at this, sounds forced when he makes remarks.

Some weirdly artistic contraptions are wheeled in; then more, guys riding what look like giant hamster wheels, all lit up; it looks spectacular as the stadium goes dark and the people form paths. Joshua points out this has a more modern, future feel than the opening.

Wow, the timing of all this is amazingly precise, thousands of performers forming intricate patterns, one right after another. Now you have peple on high-tech stilts, jumping waaaay up in the air.

It's this kind of discipline and hard work that explain China's amazing gold medal success here, and in the world economy.

Now the athletes come running in, from all directions--they come in together, but mix it up as they have ever since a Chinese-Australian boy wrote a letter to the Melbourne Olympics organizers suggesting it.

Some of the athletes are wearing shirts with messages written on them. Costas says it's estimated China spent $40 billion in all on these games. Wow. That's like 4 months of the war in Iraq.

Couple of kids drumming in the middle of the stage, for some reason. Athletes are waring their medals; lots of cameras; big-time waving to and mugging for the cameras. Odd, some guys being carried by others, not sure I've ever seen that.

U.S. team comes in, wearing Ralph Loren shorts. Frenchies coming in. Wow, Shawn Johnson, beaming like usual; looks really short among her fellow athletes. Wow, the Lopez siblings, three of them, coached by their older brother, all medaled.

On the replay of the 100M win by Bolt, notice Ato in high emotion saying "Tom Hammond..." to start his comments. Hmm, Phelps' mom in a commercial, complete with family photos, for Johnsons.

Frenetic Chinese athletes, dancing and doing the V sign for the camera. A lot of dancing going on. It's actually funny how aggressively the athletes are mugging for the camera.

51 gold medals for China, 100 overall. U.S. has 36, 110 overall. Wow, an entire stage, complete with red carpet, has been set up--overhead, looks like a giant medal. 72 for Russia overall. Yao Ming's in the house. Hugs a really tall blonde woman. Hi Mum some Commonwealth athlete wrote on her hands. 14-year-old Haley Ishimatsu hamming it up with a bunch of new friends.

And now the medal ceremony for the men's marathon, on the stage in front of everyone. This will be a great moment, his fellow Olympians gathered around to watch Samy Wanjiru get his gold. Big, huge smile.

No way, by the way, Chicago will get the 2016 games, they won't go to two straight English-speaking countries. My guess is Rio.

Tribute to the volunteers, Costas repeats again the million estimate. IOC athletes commission come in holding hands with super-cute Chinese kids in bright Disney-esque outfits, Bob calls them almost-impossibly adorable. Hey, they got hundreds of millions to choose from.... Wow, third time, Costas repeats estimates of a million involved. Is he getting old? Or just too long of a gig....

Hmm, so far all of the Performances of the Games they're replaying are of Americans. So retitle it, just be accurate.

Raise the Greek flag, and now their anthem.

Lin Qi, head of the Beijing organizing committee, Joshua gives us the sense of what he's saying--the flame will live in the hearts of the Chinese for a long time. Xie xie, thanks you, merci beaucoup at the end.

Now Jacque Rogge, who's up for reelection next year. Let's see if he calls it the best games ever, like Juan Antonio Samarach always did, until Atlanta. He calls it "truly exceptional games", the crowd roars. In French, I declare it closed, assemble four years from now in London.

Ah, now the Brits have their flag up and anthem played. London 2012 will be very different; a faded empire putting together a patchwork games I predict, with individual star power and 'tradition' to paper over the rough spots. If they're smart, they'll run it as the world's Olympics, make London's amazing diversity the centerpiece. But it could also be the last, arrogant gasp of Anglo-Saxon culture.

226 kids from around the world performing the Olympic hymn as the Olympics flag comes down. A lot of them are Asian. For some reason some of the Russian athletes have their shirts unbuttoned.

Fireworks, Olympic rings, in color. The Olympic flag not folded super-crisply. Boris Johnson, flamboyant mayor of London, walks in with the mayor of Beijing. Costas credits the ex-mayor, Ken Livingston, who actually is responsible for London getting the Games.

Joshua makes a nice point, Chinese are thinking of the last handover, of Hong Kong. Chinese mayor waves the flag, big-time. To Rogge, who waves it too. Now to Boris, who tries to unfurl it, then starts waving it, as his PM beams. He's not sure what to do, gives it to a Chinese flag bearer.

Oh, cool, now Mary Carillo is taking over, as Bob leaves for the studio. And a double-decker hi-tech red London bus comes driving in; that's pretty cool. London-Beijing-London on the side. A bunch of Brits, 'waiting' for the bus, with umbrellas; some cyclists come in, they're Olympians. Funny, let's highlight the rain. The group is very politically correct, and Bohemian.

Bus door opens, South Asian girl comes out; that's awesome; gets the soccer ball from a multicultural Chinese girl. Walks on the backs of the performers, up to the bus--that's a bit odd. Whooo, bus opening up, turns green, carpetingish, London skyline. And out comes pop star Leona Lewis, in a huge dress, way up on a platform.

And rising next to her is Jimmy Page of Led Zepplin, wailing on his guitar. Yeah, it's going to be a very different Olympics. Some mike problems on her; he just looks old and tired. Song isn't very good. It looks like she's lip-synching.

Yeah, totally underwhelming so far. No sense of great excitement to this. Athletes just standing around; performers have their umbrellas open. Lift comes up, along with David Beckham. He kicks the ball into the crowd, one of the Chinese volunteers gets it, she's totally beaming.

Hmm, London will become the first city to get it three times. As I precited, they're gonna do these games with tape and chewing gum--even their stars didn't do anything Olympian, just showed up.

Now the Chinese back in charge, actors playing athletes leaving at the airport, go up a boarding stairway, with backpacks; two white, one black. No Asian? They stand at the top, spotlit, look longingly up at the flame, one guy opens a scroll. Maybe the chick is Hispanic.

They play images from the games on the scrim around the edges of the stadium. Spectators waving red lights. Very theatrical, two performers in chalk undulating. First time the whole thing's been performed in the stadium, all constructed in the last few hours.

Highlights are day by day, now they're coming up to the flame. Kids are singing; crowd applauds, the memories fade out, the flame begins to dim down. And now it's out, as a murmur runs through the crowd; then, applause. Nightime shots of Beijing, looking beautiful. Fireworks erupting now.

The 'memory tower' is now filled with people undulating, it looks like the flame; come to life. Nobody is ever going to come close to topping these games. Zhang Yimou is a genius at this kind of thing. One guy climbs to the top; athletes are transfixed. Performers form a blooming flower on the side, wow.

Down some come, rest are on levels, moving. They have ropes attached, so they're gonna jump. Now everyone else comes swarming back up the tower. They carry long strips of cloth to the top; it really all looks spectacular, in red. Cloths are lifted up and out, like it's floating. Fireworks over Beijing.

It's spectacular, not sure it has the grand symbolic sweep and inherent understanding of the opening ceremony; those athletes at the top of the airport staircase were literally left hanging.

They're singing the catchy Beijing Beijing, Wo Ai Beijing song. Some young bubble gum group. Like all non-American pop, the performances are slightly forced and a bit cheesy. Hundreds of performers on the erhu join in, nice touch. Whoah, now the people are flying off the steel tower on wires. It'd be nice if NBC put the words up on the screen for non-Chinese speakers.

More Chinese singing, as performers in skysuits fly around on wires. They look great, lit up against the night. Wonder if viewers tuning in for the Democratic convention will subconsciously expect similarly high production values. I mean, even Obama in a stadium is going to pale besides this, visually.

This is a bit pointless; China's biggest pop star Wei Wei is wailing away. Now it's a big dance party or something; with Jackie Chan up on stage singing. That's hilarious. It's all Chinese songs--good luck trying to get people to dance to it. It's like a produced dance party, with a ring of volunteers separating the performers from the athletes.

Odd, NBC isn't roving around the floor anymore, now would be a great time to talk to Olympians. Wow, now it's like Chinese rap or something. This is communism?! I predict there will be a big trend of Olympic-style parties/weddings sweeping China now.

Well, one thing the Brits should be able to do better is the music. This is like those variety show spectacles you always click past on the Chinese language cable channel.

Fireworks all over China; and now, in London--Michael Phelps! Cause the Brits can't get their own Olympian?! Wow, this is weird. There's a huge crowd gathered for something, the BBC feed identifies him as '14x Olympic champion'. The host guy is an idiot, typical foppish Brit who overplays his hand in fawning all over Phelps. For some reason a bunch of girls start squealing halfway through. And in comes an overfly of jets; red/white/blue for London 2012. What an odd segment.

Now Placido Domingo and Song Zuying sing a duet; she's in this crazy ornate dress. Like the Brits/Phelps, it's a gloss of Western 'culture' for Beijing. Lot different feeling on the way up than on the way down, though.

Now on the floor, Andrea Joyce and Shawn Johnson. She says it's been amazing, the coolest thing ever; her typical teen side comes out. Joyce says you're a rock star here, Johnson says it's the best experience ever. Hmm, weird-looking Marty Snider with Garrett Weber-Galer, member of the great swimming relay team. Odd interview to get. He's a horrible interviewer, just pumping him for trite responses.

This is so weird--the best part of this is the chance to see athletes with friends from other countries. Why not show that? They replay that Bolt 200M, that may be the most absolutely dominant performance here, as Ato says, maybe the greatest performance ever in track and field, just in a league of his own.

Chris Collinsworth talks about getting to be just a fan, meeting the people of China, loved it all. His memorable moments; he's replaced Jimmy Roberts for these appropriate essays. Hanging with Debbie Phelps; Dara Torres' torn swimsuit rescue; Natalie du Toi's prosthetic leg; USA basketball. Yao Ming and the other Chinese athletes; Chris says these games were so personal for the Chinese, we'll never see anything like it.

Bob says the Chinese fans also cheered loudly for foreign athletes. Chris says 'hope' is the key word that came out of the Olympics for him. Wow, hope all those swing voters are watching. Chris says at least for two weeks, we get to say, this world is a pretty good place.

Costas says this Olympics, and the foreseeable future, are about China's rise. If nothing else, the Olympics have moved China from its grouping with India, to a grouping with the U.S. and Russia.

Storylines... U.S. won more medals then ever at any non-American Olympics, but China easily won more golds than anyone. 204 nations participated, 87 won medals, the most ever. So the people of the world came to Beijing; and the people of China extended their hand. Costas says this has been the most memorable in many ways of all his Olympics.

They close with images of China, and Olympic moments; with credits next to it. Hmm, they read the top four, never seen that before. Hmmm, the highlights storylines to start are of U.S. athletes, and also Chinese athletes. Then they mix in highlights and moments of despair from everyone, some of which I hadn't seen before.

So, bye-bye Beijing. A great 17 days that exceeded everyone's expectations, and hopes. I watched every night, and many days, loved it all. It's one of those moments in world history as remarkable now as it will be in the books.

---

My favorite announcers from the games, in order:
-Ato Bolton, track and field analyst: Always learned something new from listening to him, conveyed his passion for the sport, and spot-on with his criticisms and observations. Loved his exulting moments, also when he called out athletes. The best NBC journalist of the Games.

-Rowdy Gaines, swimming analyst: Like Ato another ex-athlete who brought great knowledge, excitement, and insight--he made the big moments even bigger, and got me up every night for what was a great Olympics for the American team

-Doug Collins, baskeball analyst: I've always liked him; he's very analytical but also appropriately emotional about the sport he loves, it's telling that the USA men's team came over and hugged him right after their win

-Mary Carillo, anchor: She's honest, genuine, and sincere. And always finds great stories.

-Bob Costas, anchor: Smooth and professional as always, funny, generally appropriate, and someone who you can tell loves being in the thick of things. He and Jim McKay are the consummate Olympics anchors.

-Chris Collinsworth, reporter: He was a bit outside his comfort zone, but always made an effort to convey the spirit of the games. He asks great questions, gets out of the way.

-Craig Sager, basketball reporter: I never liked him before Beijing, thought he was a quasi-ridiculous figure with his demeanor and outfits. But listening to him interview Kobe Bryant after the gold medal game, realizes he asks great questions, and brings out the heart of the moment.

-Al Trautwig/Elfi Schlegel/Tim Dagget, gymnastics: Very jingoistic at times, but always knowledgable and generally accurate in their assessments of performances. They did a good job of being quiet to let us soak up the big moments.

Notable moments from the Beijing Olympics
*-Amazing sound and light spectacle of the Opening Ceremony drums performance, the 'printing blocks' that were moved by humans, the roar of thousands doing tai chi, the hi-tech flexible LED screen, Hungary's red dalmation outfits, the paint all the athletes walked across, the amazing reception the crowd gave China's team, Yao and the earthquake kid hero, Li Ning flying through the air to light the scroll torch.

-President Bush in the stands like a normal fan

-John McCain's jarringly-inappopriate attack ad against Barack Obama

*-Lezak's leg in the men's relay to catch Bernard at the wall; my gosh....

-U.S. gymnastics men going crazy afer winning the bronze, after being counted out by everyone due to pre-Olympics injuries

-Yang Wei winning gold in the high bar, and cackling for the camera; during the gymnastics showcase, does this whole funny pommel 'horse' routine

-Elegant Nastia Liukin winning overall individual gold at literally the last moment, just ahead of firecracker Shawn Johnston

-Crazy Bela Karolyi in the studio, and NBC's tape of him going nuts during Liukin's routine

-Target's commercial, which led me to Natasja Saad's great Calabria video

-Rebecca Soni winning the 200M breastroke, in what consistently excellent announcer Rowdy Gaines said may be the swimming upset of the games

-Classy Mary Carillo's emotional profile of the Chinese artist who designed the logo and mascots

*-Michael Phelps outtouching Milorad Cavitch at the wall to win the 100M butterfly by .01 seconds for gold #7

-Brit Rebecca Adlington smashing Janet Evans' 19-year-old record in the 800M free

-Classy and geniune Dara Torres winning silver in 50M freestyle, just .01 seconds from gold, at the age of 41, after holding up the race to make sure a fellow competitor could replace her busted suit

*-Usain Bolt in yellow winning the 100M, showboating to deny himself an even greater world record time but providing the signature track and field moment of this Olympics

-Michael Phelps winning his 8th gold medal; an unbelievable run of domination

-U.S. men sweeping 400M hurdles, with a great, humble interview afterwards

-NBC's head-in-the-sand jingoism after Nastia Liukin ties for gold on the uneven bars and gets silver due to the tiebreaker system, which NBC suddenly deems unfair

*-Shawn Johnson beaming and beaming and beaming after winning her gold on the balance beam, with her Chinese-born coach as happy, and her parents, who mortgaged their home twice for her gymnastics, crying in the stands

-Jonathan Horton grabbing silver on the high bar

-Lolo Jones crying, alone, standing up against a wall under the stadium after hitting the next-to-last hurdle and finishing out of the 100M hurdles medals.

-Kerri Walsh/Misty May-Treanor's second beach volleyball gold in as many Olympics, during which they never dropped a set, which ran their match winning streak to 108; Walsh's nutty "I need a baby" declaration after getting the gold

-Chris Collinsworth's typical well-done profile of Natalie du Toit, the South African open water swimmer who lost a leg in 2001

-Usain Bolt's jaw-dropping 200M record run, with the U.S. moving up to silver and bronze on DQs

-Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers' grind-it-out gold in beach volleyball against Brazil, with May-Treanor sitting in the stands wearing a Chinese dragon peasant hat

-Hurdles champ Cuban Dayron Robles's old-school glasses; and the Nike Marvin 'definition of cool' Gaye national anthem commercial

-USA women's volleyball's run to silver, with their Chinese-born coach, who got standing ovations since she led a legendary Chinese volleyball gold medal team

*-Wanjiru's blistering marathon, for Kenya

-Aussie Matthew Mitcham's great final dive that kept China from winning all 8 diving golds

-U.S. track team wearing red on the last day to honor China

-Sanya Richards' great last leg to win the 4x400 relay for the U.S.

-From the closing credits: They show Liu Xiang crying by himself against the wall after he had to pull out of the hurdles, and a Chinese official breaking down in the press conference afterwards; hadn't seen the latter before, wow. Also that German weightlifter crying after winning the gold, holding his dead wife's photo on the podium.

-USA Basketball beating Spain for gold, behind Kobe's killer late fourth quarter, and putting their gold medals around Coach K's neck

*-Hugh McCutcheon and his men's volleyball team winning gold, bookending tragedy with triumph

Times gets lost in Africa

Elinor Burkett turns in one of those standard white woman goes to Africa pieces in today's issue of the always-backwards Times Travel section that's notable only for its fantastic photo, and this crazy sentence:

For decades until 1914, Namibia was a German colony, South West Africa, and even 94 years after Germany lost it as the spoils of defeat in World War I, the Teutonic imprint on Swakop, as locals call the city, remains unmistakable."

Wow--41 words delineated by 6 commas!

Not to mention such rhetorical flourishes as 'spoils of defeat' and 'Teutonic imprint'.

Burkett, who teaches journalism(!), follows immediately with another sentence nearly as claustrophobic:

The standard plats du jour are schnitzel and bratwurst; the architecture of the old prison, the train station, the jail and dozens of other structures is late 19th-century Munich; and the streets are so tidy that Kaiser Wilhelm, for whom the main avenue was named until the government changed it six years ago, would be proud.

The article's 2,089 words are chopped up into many similar sentences that have hopelessly lost their way--by my count, 134 commas, 11 emdashes and 6 semicolons are scattered in amongst just 64 sentences.

Elinor really needs to read Isak Dinesen.

Photo of tourists climbing one of the Sossusvlei dunes, which rise as high as 1,000 feet, by Evelyn Hockstein for the Times

From Clark to Clayton Rockefeller

There's a fantastic profile in the Times of Christian Gerhartsreiter, the German-born con artist who for decades called himself Clark Rockefeller and led a high-society life full of lies.

Later in that same section, the Times writes up the wedding of Clayton Rockefeller, who really is David Rockefeller's grandson.

Aside from the facial similarity between Clayton and 'Clark', there's also this about how Clayton met his wife:

Mr. Rockefeller fell hard and fast for Ms. Rubinstein after they were briefly introduced in the spring of 2000.

“I had a crush on Manya from afar,” he said. But he found getting her attention to be difficult.

“One time I yelled her name and waved from across the street, and she just kept on walking,” he recalled.

Ms. Rubinstein now says that she must not have been wearing her eyeglasses. But as a native New Yorker, she was also not in the habit of talking to strangers. “That’s what you’re taught when you grow up in the city,” she said.

The couple had their first lengthy conversation in the fall of 2000. “She was one of the smartest people I’ve ever met and the most beautiful,” Mr. Rockefeller said.

But she remained “standoffish,” she acknowledged.

Even Mr. Rockefeller’s name didn’t make an impression. “It didn’t occur to me that only a small number of people would have this name,” she said. “A lot of people have the name Rubinstein.”

They went out a couple times. And she was both charmed and confused by this open-hearted guy from Maine “who has this amazing ability to talk to anybody about anything,” she said. “I didn’t know what to make of him. He didn’t fit into any boxes I had reserved for people.”

And having a boyfriend was not high on her priority list.

So Mr. Rockefeller impulsively upped the ante before their winter break at Brown. “I asked if I could get a ride down to New York so I could go visit some family,” he said.

They enjoyed a daylong date as they drove through a snowy New England landscape. But when they arrived in Manhattan, she overheard him leaving messages for absent relatives.

“I suddenly realized he hadn’t made any plans with anyone in his family,” she said. He admitted that he had fibbed and then took a bus back to Providence.

“I thought he was completely crazy,” she said. “But I was really touched.”

You can't make this kind of stuff up.

Pool photo by Essdras M. Suarez of Clark Rockefeller; Clayton Rockefeller photo from the Times

Olympic's final run

Watching the men's Olympics marathon live; a really fast pace so far, in the rapidly-warming Beijing morning. They're actually doing a profile of what happened to the marathon leader, Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima from Brazil, four years ago in Athens-- when a deranged ex-Irish priest who believed space aliens were coming to take over attacked him as he was leading the race.

He was shoved into the crowd, before onlookers dragged the crazy man--who NBC interviews--off de Lima. Man, with less than 2 miles to go his once-large lead shrank, then he lost it; then he flies into the stadium, finishes third! Gets bronze, and the sportsmanship medal.

Wow, I'd totally forgotten about that; this crazy Irish guy has also disrupted an F1 race; he was fined, but not imprisoned. At least the nutcase realizes he went too far. de Lima says he was never angry at him, the moment itself was bigger than any medal. Wow....

Meanwhile, Ethiopia, Kenya and Kenya are top three a little past halfway, it's the fastest pace ever for an Olympic marathon, on 2:05 pace. Announcers are incredulous; Americans are running their planned pace.

One of the five lead pack runners, from Eritrea, used to work as a day laborer, collecting wood for .30 cents a day.... Lewis Johnson reports from the course right in front of the runners, temps are in the 80s and everyone's scrambling for water. Mile 16... they can't keep up this pace, right?! It's battle of Africa, two Kenyans, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Moroccan. Kenyans wanna win to help heal their country; oddly, the country's never won the Olympics marathon. Everyone else is at least 43 seconds back at this point.

Americans have moved up to 11th and 15th place, more than a minute back. Now, few minutes later, Ryan Hall, the U.S. champ, has fallen back to more than 3 minutes off--no word on why.

Now at Peking University--why did it keep that name?!--which is generally know as Beida. Hmm, Mao graduated from here. Lots of shade here, and a misting area. Moroccan is dropping back a bit, lead foursome is pulling away. My god, this could be a run for the ages.

Hmmm, last year's world champ from Kenya looks like he's out of it, by the side of the road as an ambulance pulls up. Ethiopia-Merga, Kenya-Wanjiru, Eritrea-Kifle, Kenya-Lel, Morocco-Gharib. Announcer says Wansiru has to be the favorite at this point, he trained in Japan for the humid conditions, only two Kenyans to win Olympic medals went there too.

1:28 in, Merga and Wanjiru opening up a gap over the others, lead pack is strung out a bit now. Now, just five minutes later, Moroccan rejoins lead pack, then falls back--like a yo-yo, as commentators say; they also now think one of these guys will probably win gold.

Back from break, coming up on 1:40 and the three have been reunited again. 2 hours 9 minutes is the OR; it's always slower than most marathons because it's held in the hot days of summer. Now comes the wall.... Now nearing high 80s says Lewis, they're on like a highway or something, sheesh. It can be over 100 on the asphalt, commentator says; mile 21, bit over 5 miles left.

Hmm, Wanjiru and Merga share a bottle of water, they're back out front a bit of the Moroccan. Commentators saying they're likely to be gold/silver/bronze. Americans up to 10th/11th place, in a normal race their time would've been great, but it's an extraordinary race. Seems like it'd have been predictable that the Kenyans were fueled by something more than the usual competitive pride.

1:50 in, leaders can see the Olympic stadium. Now, Wanjiru pulling away, Moroccan second, Eritrean fading in third. Man, he's just increasing the margin. I'm rooting for him, what a great story; ugh, they go to another commercial. Pretty cool that they've covered the marathon this entire time though.

Back, matter of minutes left; Wanjiru on Olympic record pace. NBC spelling it Wansiru on the graphic for some reason. They've had quite a few camera and audio problems during this race, with the picture freezing a number of times. He's got about 5 minutes left, about 13 seconds in front of the Moroccan. A Chinese volunteer picks his water bottle up after he discards it, nice souvenir.

Looks like he's lengthening his lead; he's running fluid, looks to be in good shape. Checks his watch, running down the highway. What a great sight; mile 25. Lead now up to about 20 seconds ahead of Gharib. Wow, they are waaaaaay out in front of everyone.

Coming past the Water Cube, my god, the two of them are more than a minute ahead of everyone else! How is that possible?! Is NBC's graphic messed up? He's young, 21; not much marathon experience. My gosh, third place is like 2:20 behind them?!

2:03, about to head into the stadium. His lead is getting sider, can't even see second place on the helicopter's eye view. He's benefitted from Japanese coaching, NBC says it's not just a Kenyan victory here. Apparently Japan loves distance running.

And he's into the tunnel; raises his hands in triumph. There's a VW pace car right in front of him. Can hear the roar of the crowd as the commentator says he was wrong about the pace, what an amazing run. Man, it's a HUUUUGE cheer as he runs into the stadium, what a great moment. Big smile on his face, he's waving to the crowd as he runs around the entire track, all by himself; second place nowhere to be found. He's going to destroy the OR of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 21 seconds, which has stood for 24 years!

Still by himself, coming home to the finish line, hands up in the air; and he finishes in 2:06:30. Wow! Kneels on the ground crosses himself. And here comes two-time world champ Gharib of Morocco, for the silver, 2:07:16.

Ethiopian Merga comes jogging easily into the tunnel, his teammate is right behind him, should be interesting race for bronze. His teammate Kebebe is coming up on him a bit, oh-oh. He keeps looking behind him, his teammate is coming up; gap is definitely closing, let's see what their kick is like. Now Merga just gets passed easily, he's almost walking at this point, in real pain; Kebebe finishes in 2:10:00 for the bronze. Wow, Merga almost gets passed again at the finish, barely able to walk.

American in the stadium now, in ninth place, running well. Hall behind him. They run times that would've gotten them on the podium in a normal Olympics race. They both look pretty strong, makes you wonder if they had pushed it....

Gosh, that was really exciting. Next--men's 10M platform diving, China trying to sweep all 8 golds in the diving events, U.S. doesn't even have a single medal to this point--just like they finished in Athens. I think the diving coach should be fired, in addition to the track and field head. Just ridiculous, given our population and facilities; we've badly underperformed expectations in both events.

Thomas Finchem of U.S. first, messed up in his first dive, a horrible entry into the water. Not a great second dive, either. Ugh, low score. David Boudia, our best hope for a medal, in fifth place. Oooh, a nice dive; knifes into the water. His coach is happy, too. Zhou Luzin dives, they keep talking about the pressure on the Chinese athletes; of course, it's normal--a great power, at home. Don't make it seem so exotic. He's in first after the initial dive, great dive here will keep him there, all 9s or higher except for the Bulgarian judge's 8.5.

Some Aussie, with a nice entry; they don't explain the order of the divers, maybe based on how they finished in prelims? NBC has been so wildly inconsistent here, some great commentators, then other events where they don't even tell us what we need to know to appreciate the action. Matthew Mitcham gets four 10s, but still in second. American stays in 5th.

Third dive now. Still hyped up from that great marathon; I always try and watch it at the Olympics, remember generally you have to get up early on the Sunday for it. Glad it was live here.

Hey, 14-year-old Tom Daley. Loooks even younger; let's check his passport. Sign him up now, this kid's gonna be one of the stars at the London Olympics. Finchem starts out in a handstand; huge splash on the entry. Looks like it's nerves, commentator says. His total after three is close to the Chinese diver's after two. Nice dive, from Boudia; well, commentator says not so, they use their cool strobe light photos to show the sequence; sure enough, low scores, U.S. hopes slipping away.

Zhou now, looks quietly confident. Audience is hyped, lots of people waving Chinese flags. Kindof a big splash; hmmm. Hmmm, he gets all scores above 9, despite what commentator though. Huo Liang, who's already won synchro gold--my gosh, every Chinese diver here has medaled! Now that's dominance. Not a good entry at all. China is 1, 3; Boudia falls to 6th, within 20 points of third.

They skip Finchem's fourth dive; Boudia has a good dive, big sound of splash but splash looks small. Zhou needs to close the deal; a bit arching into the water, but small splash. Gets a good score, Aussie does well too; now Huo, hmmm, big splash.

For some reason, into the last dive they say the "last chance to spoil China's sweep of diving gold" rests with the Aussies. Why is 'spoil' what they're emphasizing here? Sheesh. Boudia's next-to-last dive, not great. Wow, Zhou nails the landing after a bad takeoff, commentator calls it a 10 entry going into the water. And he gets 10s. "Tough, but not impossible, for anyone to deny China the sweep."

Aussie has a good dive, currently second. Boudia behind the kid in 7th. Nice last dive for Finchem; but now, a horrible last dive for Boudia, he almost belly flops. Commentator says it looks like he runs out of gas. Big mistake for Zhou on his last dive, commentator says, as he kicks out his knees; he'll probably still win, but feeling the pressure.

Now some drama.... Wow, a great dive by Mitcham--and he's actually in first now, by 4 points! Wow. The crowd is roaring, even though he beats the Chinese; and now the commentator says it's over, the 3rd place guy can't catch him. He's stunned a country, silenced the Water Cube, announcer says; man, he's really annoying. Huo dives not great, the Aussies are celebrating. Even though I generally don't like the Aussies, it's a great story, coming from that far back on the last dive. Huo now the only Chinese diver in the entire games to not medal!

Hmm, quick google search shows other people aren't crazy about these NBC announcers; I actually think Cynthia Potter is fine, even if her tone is a bit direct and almost insulting at times.

But Ted Robinson is just horrible--he's openly rooting for countries, and seems to think everyone shares his desire to see China lose. He gets things wrong all the time, and doesn't correct himself. Plus his tone is just irritating as hell; he really seems to think we're tuning in to hear him exult.

Thank god that's it for diving; back to track and field, and Tom Hammonds/Ato Bolton, who might be my favorite announcing team out of these Olympics. Hammonds is pretty straightforward, if a bit odd at times; and Ato is great, gives us insight and personality and passion.

Women's 4x400 relay, let's see if the U.S. relay team can make up for its failures so far. Wow, USA track athletes switched from their normal blue tops to red tops in order to honor China. Now that's a classy move. Let's go USA!

Really, overall, it's been a great Olympics; I've enjoyed watching just about all of it. So many unexpected, nice moments; these athletes are all amazing, and the drama beats anything, anywhere.

And they're off, U.S. falling behind, Jamaica is waaaaaay out in front. Russia, Great Britain, Jamaica; but U.S. not far behind, Alyson Felix is just blazing here, grabs the lead, is accelerating easily. Let's go USA! Man, just increasing her lead, second exchange is clean too. Man, U.S. is now busting out, Russia and Jamaica trailing.

Now U.S. is falling back a bit, hope our anchor is great; Russia is just motoring past her like she's standing still. Last lap, U.S. has already moved up, but Russian had a nice cushion. Russia is increasing their lead; here comes Sanya Richards, about halfway to go, U.S. is gaining, here she comes, she's passing her--and yes, USA! USA! Awesome! Now that's a great finish, Bolton calls it a great race, great leg by Richards. Funny, you can see Russian checking the big screen down the stretch to watch herself getting passed. Jamaica finishes third.

Now, Men's 4x400 relay, we should win easily considering we swept the medals in the individual event. Just don't drop that stupid baton! LaShawn Merritt is running first, Jeremy Wariner is running anchor--Bolton says he doesn't remember the U.S. team ever leading off a relay with the Olympic champ. Maybe he's not good at receiving the baton.

Stupid British team, their anchor was taunting the Jamaicans after they won their semis heat; Ato gets off a great line, "He told the BBC he's just never been in the lead before; we'll see if he gets a chance tonight." It's especially idiotic given the respective dominant performance of the Jamaicans in track, versus the pathetic performance of the Brits.

Wow, U.S. owns the top 10 times in this relay, Bolton says this is probably their best team ever. And they're off; Merritt is running well, already makes up the slack on two guys. Nice exchange, Angelo Taylor is extending the lead. Hmm, Belgium trying to keep up, down to the second exchange, it's getting larger; wow, David Neville is just screaming down the track; Belgians staying tough. Jeremy Wariner takes it, and he's just accelerating. Nice and relaxed, it's a huuuuuuge lead, Bahamas in second, then Russia. 2:55:39, new Olympic record.

Bolton says they ran over their heads, given how young they are. Now that's awesome. They get four flags, and take their victory lap. Bolton says the race was a walk, it was supposed to be a bit closer, on paper. They reshow the first exchange; after Merritt it was pretty much over. Wow, U.S. won by about 3 seconds, what a huge margin.

Cool, four more gold medal track finals tonight. They show the medals ceremony for the women's relay; athletes look so classy, U.S. can be proud of the way we carried ourselves at these games--no incidents that I can recall. Great big smiles on all four of them, some tears too.

NBC's announcers really do talk over everything, like they're afraid to let us watch without guidance. It's to the point when they do shut up, they actually tell us that they're going to 'let' us just listen.

Men's 800M next, is NBC contractually obligated to mention the water cube everytime they show an outside shot? Youssef Kamel of Bahrain a favorite, Ato says he has a real problem with nerves. Yego of Kenya the world champ, the only 3 races he won all last year were at the world championships. They show a Candian, the team's had a disappointing Olympics. Cuban next; and the rest of the field, all from African countries, NBC doesn't show any of them.

Kenyans in front, controlling the pace. A bit slow of a pace, now picking it up. Starting to sprint, Kenyan Wilifred Buengei is going to win, Ismail--Sudan runner who's huge--finishes second, Yago of Kenya third.

Hammond says the Bird's Nest is the most distinctive stadium he's ever broadcast from. Women's 1500M next, an American Shannon Rowbury in it. Was an Irish stepdancer, thinks that's helped her in running. They profile her; kindof an oddly produced piece. Duke degrees; and Maryam Jamal of Bahrain, the heavy favorite. Born in Ethiopia, though, ranked #1 the last three years. Show some Ukrainian, too. Big field here; and they're off. No American has ever won a medal in this event, she's in the pack at the moment.

Pace a bit slow, says Ato, should be picking up. 2 laps yet, race still as it was after the start. Jamal moves up to third now, seems to be making her move; now in front, bright yellow sneakers. On the bell lap, she's stretching her lead a little, two others up front with her, American in fourth but is trying to move up. Now Jamal gets passed by Kenyan, American falls back. Down the stretch, Legat of Kenya too strong, Jamal is really fading, gets passed, finishes fourth and is in despair.

Competitors come out for the women's high jump, an American, Chaunte Howard. Favorite has won 33 in a row, Blanka Vlasic of Croatia, 6 feet 4 inches; clears easily; now Howard misses, and she's out.

Odd, back to Men's 5000M final. Bernard Legat of the U.S., reigining world champ; ran poorly in 1500M, where he's also reiging world champ but didn't even make final. Hmmm, a bizarre staggered start, some a few meters in front of others--no explanation, probably cause there are so many people in the field. Two brothers from Ethiopia in this race.

They're running very deliberately, pretty slow; nobody wants to be the leader. The camera angle from the side looks like a machine; Ato says it'll be 6 on 1, Ethiopians/Kenyans want to keep him off the medal podium. He's falling into the middle of the pack a bit. Hmm, one of the runners--Legat?--had his shoe kicked off at a world championship, stopped, took it off, and still won.....

They say Legat likes this pace, he has great speed down the stretch. Two brothers in front, third Ethiopian up there too. 9 laps to go, nearing 4 minutes gone. Kenyans consider Legat a traitor, they show one of them waving his finger at Legat, you're not passing me. Not a social dance, says one of the commentators. Another American in the race, huge guy.

They cut away, back to jump; Vlasic the second biggest track favorite announcer says, after the Russian chick who won pole vault. Whoah--and Vlasic loses, Belgian takes gold, in a huge upset.

Back to the race, not much seems to have changed, about 8 minutes in. 5 laps to go. Ethiopian opens up a lead, Legat in like 5th. Now the pack is breaking up, Legat's up in fourth; now they're all strung out. Come on, Legat! He looks to be running pretty easy. Now getting crowded by the 5th place Kenyan, right on his hip; and pases him. Hmm, 3 laps to go, 3 Kenyans behind the Ethiopian. Legat letting the four of them go, he's in 5th, by a healthy margin.

Bolton says Legat didn't want this to happen; wow, looks like Legat is out of it, he looks exhausted. The Ethiopian/Kenyans are way out front, lap and a half left. This is crazy. Now, the bell lap; Ethiopian and a Kenyan are way out front, Kenenisa Bekele, who won the 10,000M is going to win this thing easily, sets a new OR.

Wow, Legat is nowhere to be seen, no medals, way back in ninth. Bekele celebrating with his flag--hmmm, don't remember Ethiopia having a star of david with a cross inside on their flag.

Now they have Costas' interview with IOC chair Jacque Rogge. For some reason they're dividing this into three parts; Bob says right off the start this has been a most glorious Olympics, but as always they are issues.

Asks about 5 of the 6 Chinese gymnasts possibly being underage. Rogge says obviously they want the rules to be followed; the gymnastics authority has seen the documents, will make a statement soon. Fourth question is whether the age requirements should even exist, Rogge says you have to protect young people from pressure, overtraining--well, why then is there a 14-year-old diving for Great Britain?

Next, doping; Rogge says this has been his top priority. Wonder if Bob at some point asks about the three Spanish teams making racist faces for their group photos. Russia-Georgia war, Rogge says the Georgian team winning four medals has done more for their country than if the team hadn't been here.

They bring back the NBA on NBC music, prompting Bob to say, hey, I remember that music! U.S. vs. Spain, 2:30 a.m. live. 49 gold for China, 34 for U.S., 107 to 96 overall. Men's relay medal ceremony. They keep focusing on Wariner, who coincidentally is the only white face on the U.S. team.

Olympics winding down

Jamaica, with Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, destroys the rest of the field in the 4x100M race, and shatter the existing world record. The U.S. dropped its baton in prelims, probably would not have mattered; 37.10, about 1 full second ahead of second place Trinidad and Tobago.

Crazy Tom Hammond says never a more dominant performance in track and field. Hmm, Bolt is giving $50,000 to the victims of the Sichuan earthquake; the IOC president Jacque Rogge is an idiot for ripping him for showboating, he's everything that's great about the Olympics--exciting, genuine and amazing.

They're also showing Men's 10M platform semifinal, a weird thing given that no Americans are really in it--and there's no medal at stake! China's way out front 1-2, with two dives left.

Now, decathalon, where another mixed-race kid from Hawaii is set to triumph. Bryan Clay, who's half black/half Japanese, and is someone I really like, has a solid lead over everyone else as they jog through the final event, 1500M. Bryan Clay, jogging in last in his heat on what's essentially a victory lap; a bunch of the others are flopped on the ground, and now he does too. Wow, they're amazingly fatigued after doing 10 events in two days.

China's got 47 golds, U.S. has 31--nobody's had more than 50 since the Soviet Union did it in Seoul. Overall, U.S. has 102, China has 89. They close with Clay's decathalon gold ceremony; what a great story. He tears up; hope to hear more from him over the final two days, he won by the largest margin since Munich in 1972!

Idiot New York Times take on diversity

Edward Wyatt of the Times seems to disbelieve the reality of America's racial diversity, painting it as something that exists only within the artificial construct of the United Nations.

Generation Mix: Youth TV Takes the Lead in Diversity Casting: The red-carpet area at the premiere of the Disney Channel’s new Cheetah Girls movie last week looked less like the typical Hollywood cast party than some sort of United Nations session.

Adrienne Bailon, who plays Chanel in the trio of Cheetah Girls, drew on her Ecuadorean and Puerto Rican roots and chatted in Spanish with a television interviewer. Meanwhile Kiely Williams, an African-American actress who plays Aqua, and Sabrina Bryan, who plays Dorinda and whose real name is Reba Sabrina Hinojos, answered questions and waved to fans.

Deepti Daryanani, an actress from Calcutta, and Rupak Ginn, an American actor whose parents emigrated from India, wore outfits inspired by their roles in the television movie, “The Cheetah Girls One World,” in which the group travels to India to star in a film after one of its members misunderstands an invitation to Bollywood as one to Hollywood.

Other Disney stars in attendance included Brenda Song, the daughter of a Laotian Hmong immigrant father and a Thai-American mother, who starred in the Disney Channel movie “Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior”; Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, a daughter of Filipino and Spanish parents, and her “Camp Rock” co-star Roshon Fegan, who is part Filipino; and Shanica Knowles, an African-American actress who plays a high school rival of Miley Cyrus’s character on “Hannah Montana.”

It's almost like Wyatt didn't read his own quotes:

“This group of people is reflective of the life we all live right now,” said Debra Martin Chase, an executive producer of “The Cheetah Girls One World,” which will be shown Friday on the Disney Channel.

“One-third of the U.S. population is now nonwhite,” said Ms. Chase, one of a handful of prominent African-American producers in Hollywood. “That is reflected in the Disney Channel projects because they are committed to diversity. It has been a priority for them all along.”

Wyatt goes even further down his alice in wonderland path, citing as diversity the fact that the new 90210 has a couple of minor characters who are non-white, including one who's playing a fake ethnic role:

And “90210,” the updated version of the seminal 1990s teen drama set in Beverly Hills that will begin this fall on CW, features two minority cast members: Tristan Wilds, an African-American actor previously seen in HBO’s “Wire,” and Michael Steger, a multiethnic actor who plays an Indian film director in “The Cheetah Girls One World.” Mr. Steger, of Ecuadorean, Norwegian and Austrian descent, will portray an Iranian-American high school student in “90210.”

The article for all its wrong-headedness does, I think, mean well; but maybe the Times needs to take some lessons from Disney on this:

Gary Marsh, president for entertainment for Disney Channels Worldwide, said that executives at the company talked every day about how to promote greater diversity in front of and behind the camera.

“It’s something we work really hard at to make it look effortless,” he said. “We constantly push directors and casting directors and producers to make different decisions than they might otherwise make.”

Looking for drama in Beijing

My evening starts with the end of the women's platform diving; Chinese diver wins, giving them 7 of 7 gold medals in diving. Last competition for Laura Wilkinson of the U.S., she finishes far down but gets a standing ovation from her teammates, is pretty emotional afterwards.

Rainy at the Bird's Nest, they rehash the crazy DQs in the 200M. Ato Bolton says he's never seen this at the Olympic level. Says something about Usain Bolt's presence, puts a lot of pressure on everyone.

Men's 400M final, three U.S. men hope to sweep. False start, than fair; wow, U.S. men running well, they are waaaaay out in front coming down the home straightaway; Lashawn Merritt totally kicks Jeremy Wariner, wins easily--wow, David Neville dives at the line to finish third, what a great effort; he's injured though. It's a great Olympic moment.

Wariner really got destroyed, they talk to him first. He's asked about his recent coaching change at the end, refuses to answer, walks away. Ato says it's a fair question, the system worked, why tamper with it and leave your coach. Merritt says he's been training for this, no surprise. Neville said he just made a sacrifice....

Next, hurdles; I'm rooting for the Cuban, Dayron Robles, despite two Americans in the field. A commercial break, Nike commercial prompts looking up the Youtube video of Marvin Gaye singing the national anthem before a Lakers-Supersonics game. It's an archetypical example of an artist holding an audience in the palm of his hand, and bringing them along for the ride; from the voice to the pace to the syncopation to the mirrored shades to the suit to the posture to the phrasing--wow.




Ato thinks the old school glasses-wearing Dayron Robles has a shot at a world record here. I hope so; he's Cuban, so it really is all about the race for him. He's an overwhelming favorite here, especially since the Chinese star Lu Shan is out with an injury.

18 wins for U.S. in previous 24 games... and a lot of silver/bronze too. Wow, Robles wins easily... smacking the sides of his head, a bit frustrated that he didn't get a WR, never really in doubt says Ato. David Payne wins silver, Darren Oliver takes bronze. David bizarrely tells the camera he's #1, babbling about 513 or something. Payne crazily goes on afterwards about his heart of the lion; he's talking as if beat Robles. Darren seems more normal, says he's elated, his mom's here too. Wow, he's only 21, his dad died when he was 11, says he thinks about him every time he's on the track.

Hmm, BMX finals. A crazy-looking course. Women up first, Jill Kinter. This is an Olympics event?! Wow, a wipeout already; more people crash; French vs. the favored Brit. Whoah, Brit wipes out, Frenchies take gold and silver; Kinter takes bronze. Wow, that was fast; replay totally needed. Kindof exciting; not sure how much skill....

Now, the men, two Americans. Mike Day of the U.S. top qualifier. Another crash here, U.S. in second, third; Latvian wins, we get silver and bronze.

And now, beach volleyball; Dalhausser/Rogers vs. Marcio/Fabio of Brazil. Nice and sunny here, unlike last night in the American women's win. U.S. falls behind big early, 6-1 for the Brazilians. Shameless Brazilian hits the net with his hand, keeps arguing that it was Rogers. Brazilian team is inconsistent, says Rogers; so far they've been excellent. 7-3, Americans waking up a bit.

Now 10-7, U.S. just grinding away. Great point as D/R both hustle, 10-8. Brazil's body language down a bit. 10-9, D blocks Brazil at the net, Brazil hit a weak spike too. They call a timeout.

Down the road a bit, 12-11 Brazilians. 16-16, as the Brazilians get a yellow card for delay of game. 17-16, U.S. has never led in this set. Now, 18-17, first lead of the match for the U.S., at the right time too. Oooh, serves out of bounds, bad timing. 19-18, U.S. 19-19, key point right here, set point for whoever wins it. Lazy serve from Brazil, U.S. 20-19. Rogers floats in a serve, Brazilians spike to win the point. Nice save from U.S., 21-20. Crowd chanting USA, somehow I'm just not as into it as last night. 21-21. Wow, U.S. winds up winning 23-21, as Brazil hits it into the net on a comical sequence.

I think the Brazilians will fold after that. They ran in front most of the first set, gave it away at the end. They talk to Waslh/May in the stands; May for some reason is wearing a Chinese peasant hat.

Nice serve from the U.S., now 5-5. This set is taking forever, U.S. down 8-6. Now U.S. up 9-8. 11-9, U.S. starting to roll a bit. Brazil gets an ace, still down 13-12. Key moments here; and another great serve by Brazil, 13-13. Brazil scores their 4th point in a row, 14-13. Now Brazil up 17-15, this is getting dangerous for the U.S. Now down 18-15, 8-2 run.

19-16, Brazil serving. Now set point for them. 20-17, U.S. serving. Dalhausser serves it into the net, and Brazil takes it. And now, the third set for gold. They miss the first point, at commercial. Sheesh. U.S. up 2-0. Daulhausser blocks Brazil at the net, 3-0; odd, on the serve by Rogers he was looking down, like not ready or low energy.

Wow, great point, Brazil biffs it into the net at the end after a great dig, and U.S. up 4-1. 5-1, another double contact on the Brazilians. 6-1, U.S. just dominating. U.S. has lost last 13 3-set matches, last lost in 2006. After a timeout, U.S. serves, Dalhausser blocks it again, 7-1. Good serves from Dalhausser, blocks Brazil at the net again, 8-1. Rinse, repeat--blocks Brazil again! 9-1. Dalhausser apparently quiet and unassuming off the court, likes to play video games--U.S. nearly a great serve, Rogers biffs it at the end. 9-2. Brazil service error, 10-2; Brazilians looking defeated. Another error from Brazil, 11-2, Fabio especially looking spent. 11-3. 12-3, Rogers going to his trademark little tappie, he's really very strategic; now, 13-4, U.S. serving. Another spike out of bounds, 14-4, gold medal point. And, appropriately, Dalhausser stuffs them at the net, before running over and toppling over Rogers in celebration. Not nearly as emotional as the women, so far. And they celebrate together more, hugging each other again after shaking hands with the Brazilians.

Now, 'breaking news' with Bob Costas; they say the IOC is going to investigate the Chinese gymnastic team for having underage athletes. This has been out since yesterday; Costas claims NBC's gymnastics team has been all over this investigation. Sure, if snide comments counts as investigating; none of the documents research has been done by NBC, they've basically just whined about it, with no proof or attempt, given their investment in the game, to find any. Where's Jim Gray when you need him?!

They talk to Rogers/Dalhausser afterwards, Rogers answers the first two questions, says Phil's the best player in the world; they're both pretty straightforward. Hmmm, no time for decathalon, after U.S.-Russia in men's volleyball they'll show it. China up 46-30 in gold medals, U.S. up 99-83 overall, picking up 13 medals today.